Today in history
Today is Saturday, September 16, the 259th day of 2017. There are 106 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1744 — Prussia’s King Frederick II takes Prague but, deserted by the French, he is driven back into Saxony.
1839 — The first New Zealand Company emigrants sail from Gravesend.
1857 — The song Jingle Bells is copyrighted by
James Pierpont of Boston.
1859 — Lake Nyasa, which forms Malawi’s boundary with Tanzania and Mozambique, is discovered by Scottish explorer David Livingstone.
1870 — Wellington becomes New Zealand’s third city.
1905 — The ‘‘Originals’’ All Blacks open their tour of the British Isles with a 554 victory over Devon. They go on to defeat every English side they play, including a 163 victory over English county champions Durham. The tourists’ only loss was a controversial 3nil result against Wales.
1914 — The Government announces the formation of a ‘‘Maori Contingent’’ of 200 men for service with the NZEF. This is later expanded to 500 men.
1932 — A magnitude7.2 earthquake strikes the east coast of New Zealand. Although it is one of the strongest recorded in New Zealand, it does no serious damage.
1945 — Japan surrenders Hong Kong at the end of World War 2. 1953 — The Robe, the first movie filmed in the widescreen process CinemaScope, has its world premiere at the Roxy Theatre in New York.
1954 — The new South Dunedin Post Office, at the corner of Lorne and King Edward Sts, is opened by the Postmastergeneral, Mr Broadfoot.
1957 — The Hermitage Hotel at Mt Cook is razed in a fire. Its destruction, which followed soon after the loss of the Franz Josef Glacier Hotel, is a major blow to New Zealand’s growing tourism industry.
1963 — Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore form the Federation of Malaysia.
1974 — Police raid the Auckland Medical Aid Centre and confiscate all patient files during debate on the availability of abortion in New Zealand; US president Gerald Ford announces a conditional amnesty programme for Vietnam War deserters and draftevaders.
1975 — New Zealand’s first female stipendiary magistrate, Augusta Wallace, is appointed.
1978 — In Iran, 25,000 people are killed by an earthquake which measures between 7.5 and 7.9 on the Richter scale.
1979 — Afghanistan’s President Nur Muhammad Taraki is overthrown in a coup headed by communist prime minister Hafizullah Amin.
1987 — Twodozen countries sign the Montreal Protocol, a treaty designed to save the earth’s ozone layer by calling on nations to reduce emissions of harmful chemicals by 2000.
1994 — A US federal jury orders Exxon Corporation to pay $US5 billion in punitive damages to commercial fishermen, Alaska natives, property owners and others harmed in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
1995 — In Mexico, three military planes flying in formation crash during Mexican Independence Day festivities, killing six crew members.
1996 — Romania and Hungary sign a treaty to end a centuriesold rift between the two neighbours and help them join Nato and the European Union.
2014 — A helicopter skiing trip ends in tragedy when the helicopter crashes on Mt Alta, 25km northwest of Wanaka, resulting in the death of one of the passengers and injuring six others.
2016 — New Zealand Paralympian sprinter Liam Malone hits headlines around the world when he wins the men’s T44 400m in a worldrecord time of 46.20sec, just 0.11sec outside the New Zealand ablebodied 400m record time. Days earlier Malone won gold in the 200m and silver in the 100m.